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High gas prices?
Dear Editor,
Well I knew it would be just a matter of time before the gazette jumped on "$2.00 dollar gas" band wagon. The only thing that I was surprised about was they didn't come right out and blame it on Bush. Here are some wonderful statistics.
| 1. | Adjusted for inflation, a gallon of gas cost almost 50 percent more in 1981 than it does today. |
| 2. | Along with increased gas or oil prices comes increased production. Producers will try to sell more, which means increased production of gas, more oil wells being drilled and new refineries (jobs). |
3. In 1982, proven oil reserves were 696 trillion barrels. Since then the world has consumed 452 trillion barrels. How much is left? If you said 244 trillion barrels your wrong. Proven reserves are now over 1 Quadrillion barrels.
| 4. | Technology has also improved the way we use oil. In 1974 it took over 17 quadrillion BTUs of energy to produce $1 million of gross domestic product. Today it takes less then 10 quadrillion BTUs. |
| 5. | The long-term effect of China's increased usage will reduce our oil imports because more manufacturing activities will be done over their. |
| 6. | And hopefully because the nation wants lower gas prices it will not let the environmental-wacko determine where and how we drill for oil. |
7. In the 1950s, gasoline was about $.21/gal and today its around $2.00/gal.; a 10X increase. In the 1950's average income was about $3,000/year and today it is about $42,000/year; a 14X increase.
8. A car would get about 12 miles per gallon in the 1950s and today, 24 mpg isn't unusual. So gasoline, in real economic terms costs about 65 percent of what it did in the 1950s. And, we go twice as far on a gallon. We drive a lot more than we did in the 1950s. That's what happens when a commodity price decreases.
Kirt Matson
McCook